The Fund Selection Blog

Alfred Berg Appoints New CEO

Alfred Berg, the Nordic asset manager announced the appointment of Vincent Trouillard-Perrot as Nordic Chief Executive Officer (CEO). As of Aril 1, 2011, Vincent Trouillard-Perrot, will be replacing François Hullo who will be focusing on BNP Paribas Investment Partners’ institutional sales activities in Southern Europe.

Previous CEO of Alfred Berg, François Hullo commented on Vincent Trouillard-Perrot appointment, in the company press release: “Vincent and I have been colleagues at BNP Paribas for more than 15 years and I know that in his Asian career he has successfully achieved exactly what we have set out to do here at Alfred Berg, namely strengthening the company’s position in the top tier of the market.”

François Hullo will take a seat on the board of Alfred Berg Asset Management AB to secure management continuity.

Hullo continued by adding,“I am extremely pleased to have this opportunity to maintain a strategic role in the further development of Alfred Berg,” says François Hullo.

Vincent Trouillard-Perrot was employed at BNP Paribas since 1991. For the past 12 years he has also served in various roles and positions, in Asia for BNP Paribas Asset Management and BNP Paribas Investment Partners, including several CEO positions. Most recently, he was as CEO for the Hong Kong office and Head of the Asia Pacific regional hub.

Vincent Trouillard-Perrot, commented on his recent appointment: “I’m very much looking forward to this challenge. With almost 150 years of Nordic history Alfred Berg has a solid market position. The company has a strong client base, well-performing products and an extremely competent team.”

Management Change at Handelsbanken

M. Johan Widerberg has remained at Handelsbanken Group management and the central bank management team for the past two years even though he was due for retirement. After 15 years working for the organization, On April 1, 2011 he retired. However, even though he is retiring from his position, M Johan Widerberg will be continuing with his assignments on the boards of various Handelsbanken subsidiaries and regional banks.

 

Didner & Gerge Fonder AB Appoints Henrik Andersson as Fund Manager

Didner & Gerge Fonder AB has appointed Henrik Andersson as the fund manager for Didner & Gerge Global Fund, which the company intends to launch in autumn. Andersson will begin his appointment this summer, and will work alongside Jens Barnevik.

Henrik Andersson holds a degree in finance from the University of Nebraska, and has a history of fund management from Handelsbanken. Andersson has also been a manager at Arbor European Equity Market Neutral and Arbor.

Euroclear Appoints New CEO

Euroclear Finland appointed Anso Thiré as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Hanna Vainio as Deputy Chief Executive of the Finnish central securities depository (CSD), at Euroclear Finland. Thiré will be replacing Seppo Rantanen, who stepped down from the role as Chief Executive Officer of Euroclear Finland in January 2011. Vainio will be replacing Jouni Leinonen as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Euroclear Finland.

Thiré will continue to serve as Chairman of the Executive Management Group of Euroclear Finland, as well as serve as  Chief Executive Officer of Euroclear Sweden. He will be responsible for the integration of both the Euroclear Finland and the Euroclear Sweden. Currently, Vainio is the head of product management for Euroclear Finland and Euroclear Sweden and is a member of the Executive Management Group of the two CSDs.

Thiré joined Euroclear in 1985 and since has held senior positions in finance, commercial, and strategic public affaris. Prior to joining Euroclear in 2006, Ms. Vainio was Vice President at Nordea Bank Finland and Head of Corporate Actions for several years.

Vainio is the Chairwoman of the Finnish Corporate Actions Market Practice Group, and has been an active member of various industry working groups that specialize in corporat actions,.

Frédéric Hannequart, Chairman of Euroclear Finland commented on the new appointments in the company press release: “Our new senior management team at Euroclear Finland have the vision and commitment to provide a post-trade infrastructure in Finland that will best serve our institutional and retail client needs. Changes and potential changes in the Finnish capital market require a strong management team that can deliver real and beneficial advantages for our Finnish clients, both domestically and internationally, now and in the future.”

Swedbank’s New Equity Manager

Affärsvärlden reports that Swedbank’s Robur Mutual Fund, has a new equity manager. Anders Bergh has been appointed as the new equity manager, replacing Jonathan Pripp the Chief Investment Officer, who had been acting as equity manager for the Robur Mutual Fund, since Stegan Franzen left Swedbank. Jonathan Pripp will be returning to his original post of CIO, and Bergh will be taking over.

For the past three years, Anders Berg has been managing Robur’s Hedge Fund Global Macro, and since its launch the fund has returned 4.34 % with a fall of 1.3% this year.

Swedbank Robur Mutual Fund was established in 1967, the company is one of the largest asset management firms. Robur focuses on active management, fundamental analysis and intense monitoring and risk control. In 2008 and 2009 Robur’s fund manager were named, Best Fund Managers in the Nordic, by the Lipper awards.

Handelsbanken Appointed a New CEO

Handelsbanken appointed Maria Lundberg as their new Chief Executive Officer. Maria will be taking Gunnar Mostrom’s place, who will be continuing his work at Handelsbanken Direct.

Currently, Maria is a development manager at Handelsbanken International, and she will take on her new position June 15, 2011.

World Economic Forum Awards Nordea’s Sasja Beslik

Sasja Beslik, the head of responsible investments & governance at Nordea, received an award from the World Economic Forum, for his work in responsible investments.  Beslik has been awarded the title of Young Global Lead of 2011, which implies that he will ‘serve as an ambassador of a global network aiming to influence international companies to increase their socially responsible investments (SRI)’.

Throughout the next five years, Beslik along with other network members will be attending and hosting lectures about (SRI), throughout the world.

Sasja Beslik, commented in the company press release about his award, ''I am pleasantly surprised and honoured to get this recognition for my work. Hopefully, we at Nordea can inspire other companies to take more social responsibility too.’’

This is not Beslik’s first award with SRI. In June 2010, Financial Hearings, had newly founded an award within ESG (Environmental, Social, & Governance), and Sasja Beslik was awarded as best analyst in Sweden on ESG.

He continued by adding, ''during the past couple of years Nordea has attached great importance to developing its work on responsible investments. – Today Nordea is in the forefront of responsible investments in the Nordic region. We combine financial, environmental and social aspects to deliver socially responsible returns and constantly seek to influence the corporate behaviour of the companies we invest in. We mainly focus on developing commercial funds based on environmental and social perspectives rather than developing purely ethical funds.’’

Nordea plans to continue developing their socially responsible investments, as well as have the information reach the public, and in particular the young adults.

Sasja Beslik commented on Nordea’s future plans, ''Young people become increasingly involved in the decisive role that the financial sector plays in realizing long-term sustainable economic developments. The future is seldom just a fluffy time-horizon to young people. It is rather an active choice.’’

Norges Bank Investment Management's CIO Resigns

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) announced that their Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Bengt Enge, has resigned.

Enge was employed at NBIM since 1998 and prior to being named CIO in October 2009, he was the Global Head of External Management.  

Yngve Slyngstad the Chief Executive Officer, will be responsible for the CIO responsibilities until a replacement for hired.

Tryg Appoints New Investor Relations Director

Tryg appointed Ulrik Andersson as their new Investor Relations Director with the resignation of Ole Søeberg. Ole Søeberg was offered a position as portfolio manager at SKAGEN Fondene, the Norwegian Asset Management Company.

Ulrik Andersson has been employed at Tryg since 2000, and has held positions within analysis, controlling, reporting and risk management. Since last year, Andersson has been responsible for the daily management of M&A and competitor analysis.

Andersson will begin his new position 1 May 2011.

Nordea Hires Antti Savilaakso as Director of Responsible Investments

Responsible Investor reports that Nordea Investment Funds has appointed Antti Savilaakso as its Director of Responsible Investments & Governance, in Finland.

Prior to his appointment with Nordea, Savilaakso, was a Senior Responsible Investment Analyst at Responsible Research in Singapore, and prior to that, he was a Sustainbility Analyst at Dexia Management.

The hire reflects Nordea’s recent responsible investments decision. Recently Nordea was one of the founding members so the Finnish Sustainable Investment Forum, as well as several Finnish asset owners have signed the UNPRI. See responsible investor for the complete story.